I wrote a post to
the Glasgow Herald comments page yesterday (Monday) and in it I was very
complimentary about Bob Crow The leader of the RMT union. I described him as being
in the tradition of Arthur Scargill, Mick Mc Gahy, Len McCluskey and Jimmy
Airlie, men of the utmost integrity and true warriors for the working class. It’s
now Tuesday at 12.28 pm and I read an hour ago that Bob Crow had died of a
heart attack, I am reeling at the news, firstly because he was a man I admired greatly
and also because of the coincidence of writing about him less than 24 hours ago,
the fact that his death was so sudden and him not being unwell adds to the
shock.
Some of the names
I have mentioned above were members of the Labour party and some were not but I
regarded all of them as union brothers and political comrades, never enemies,
opponents occasionally but never enemies. Crow was a giant, intellectually,
politically and physically as well, he was very popular with his union members
not least because they enjoy good wages and working conditions because of his
efforts on their behalf, but also because they knew he was 100% on their side
and he would never ever sell them out just like the people I mentioned above.
One of my great pleasures in recent years was to watch Bob Crow on TV or listen
to him being interviewed on the radio, he was quite simply brilliant. The last
one I saw was between him and Andrew Neil who joined the growing band of
political journalists who could not land a glove on him, that is not meant to
be demeaning to Mr. Neil who is tough, able and rather good at what he does.
That interview was like most others with Crow a walk in the park, Neil smart
guy that he is recognised that he would not get the better of him and ended up
turning it in to a jovial good natured encounter. At one juncture Neil slyly
put up a picture of Crow lying on a Brazilian beach on holiday in an attempt to
show him in a bad light with his members, the suggestion being that his members
could not afford such luxury. Crow quite calmly and politely suggested that he
would discuss holidays etc. with Neil if Neil agreed to answer Crow’s questions
about his wages and holidays etc. which made me wonder why other interviewees
do not do something similar, Neil was stumped but was wise enough to take it on
the chin rather show himself in a bad light by becoming churlish at the big
bruiser’s audacity.
I wish our union
leaders and our politicians of the left would try to emulate people like Bob
Crow he represented everything a good union leader should be. Tough,
uncompromising, honest and diligent in pursuit of his members interests and not
afraid to speak out politically in defence of the working classes. I sincerely
hope his successor carries on where Bob left off.
4 comments:
They tried to discredit him at every turn but his men knew he could not be bought, we need more men like him. Rest in peace comrade
When your leader is made in to "public enemy number one" by the right wing reactionary media you know you have voted for the right guy.
“The conservative-preferred, free-market fundamentalist, shareholder-only model - so successful in the 20th century - is being thrown onto the trash heap of history in the 21st century. Team USA’s results - a jobless decade, 30 years of flat median wages, a trade deficit, a shrinking middle class and phenomenal gains in wealth but only for the top 1 percent - are pathetic. This should motivate leaders to rethink, rather than double down on an empirically failing free-market extremism.”
That a labor leader would proclaim love for freedom an extreme view should come as no surprise. May he rest in peace. Arthur Kelly Craigneuk/Chicago
yet another episode of two faced self serving hypocrisy from terry kelly,
"When your leader is made in to "public enemy number one" by the right wing reactionary media you know you have voted for the right guy." WHAT YOU MEAN LIKE ALEX SALMOND IS AT THE MOMENT TERRY.
go back to serving your Tory leaders at the better together camp and stop trying to manufacture some false allegiance with real socialists.
You are merely a servant of the British Establishment stop trying to pretend otherwise, you fake,your OBE is in the post.
Oh and I fully expect you not to publish this the same way you didn't publish my comment last week, still going on about censorship of your views at the Herald, Terry, you are nothing but a two faced apologist for the westminster elite.
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